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The fashion world seems to be more forgiving than the film industry.
Alexander Wang made his star-studded return to the runways of New York last week in what was described as a “romantic return” by the aptly named Business of Fashion.
Miss Congeniality herself, Anna Wintour, was front row for the show as snakeskin pants and boring old denim was modelled on the Zebra striped runway.
It was a fabulous return to the fold for Wang after having to deal with allegations of sexual assault by ten different victims.
The allegations ranged from public groping to drugging them with MDMA and nonconsensual sexual encounters.
Known for his over-the-top after-parties, Wang denied the allegations at the time, but admitted that “he will do better”. This profound statement was followed by a meeting with his accusers, the details of which have not been made public.
Having dealt with that, Alexander Wang seems to have been welcomed back by the bold and the beautiful. Or as this Vogue article quips:
‘It’s been a minute since Alexander Wang has been on the runway in New York City.’
Pity, it’s not that easy in Hollywood, where Kevin Spacey is still ducking and diving around very similar sexual assault charges.
Fashion may say ‘Bah Daaarling!’ to predatory behaviour, but at least Hollywood pretends to take it seriously.
Allegations against Wang first surfaced in December 2020 when model Owen Mooney claimed that Wang groped him. Following this, 11 more men approached victims’ rights lawyer Lisa Bloom with similar accusations and the winter collection of discontent began.
The show did not form part of the official New York Fashion Calendar but was still well attended by notable editors-in-chief of several major magazines.
This was not the first comeback show for Wang. His FW22 range was presented in Los Angeles last year as a benefit for the China Town district.
Nothing says I’m sorry like a charity event.
Wang rose to fame in New York 15 years ago on the sexy sellability of what used to be called the model-off-duty look: all slouchy blazers, shredded tanks and tees, and skinny cigarette jeans.
At the time, Wang described the accusations as ‘atrocious’. We can’t help but agree with him.
